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Hack Memory

(Usage hints for this presentation)

IT Systems, Summer Term 2024
Dr. Jens Lechtenbörger (License Information)

1. Introduction

1.1. Today’s Core Question

  • What are bits, bytes, words, registers, RAM, ROM?

1.2. Retrieval Practice

  • Prior knowledge

1.3. Learning Objectives

  • Explain memory hierarchy
  • Explain functionality of RAM, ROM, PC
    • In particular for Hack chips
  • Convert memory sizes (bits, bytes, larger sizes)

Agenda

2. Memory

2.1. Sequential Circuits

  • Now, sequential circuits: Output depends on input combination, clock signal, and state
    • Calculations based on sequence of (previous) inputs
      • Sequence triggered/synchronized by clock: one step or cycle per clock tick
  • Memory chips, RAM, ROM
  • Computer with RAM and CPU

2.2. Bit, Byte, Word

  • Bit (b): Smallest unit, zero or one
  • Word: CPU specific width for unit of processing
    • Hack: 16 bits, more typical: 32 or 64 bits
  • Byte (B): 8 bits, typical unit of addressing in modern CPUs
    • But not in Hack architecture
      • In Hack, addresses refer to 16-bit words, not to 8-bit bytes
    • Byte can be understood as unsigned 8-bit integer
      • Between 0 and 255

2.2.1. Units for Memory

  • Base 10 and base 2 for larger (or smaller) quantities
    • Systeme international d’unites (SI)
      • Prefixes based on powers of 10
      • “Normal”: kilo/k (\(10^3\)), mega/M (\(10^6\)), micro/μ (\(10^{-6}\)), nano/n (\(10^{-9}\)), …
        • 16 kB = 16,000 B (16 kilobytes)
    • IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
      • Prefixes based on powers of 2
      • “New”: kibi/Ki (\(1024\)), mebi/Mi (\(1024^2\)), gibi/Gi (\(1024^3\)), …
        • \(16\) KiB = \(16 \cdot 1024\) B = \(16384\) B (16 kibibytes)
  • Typical convention
    • For RAM (main memory), use powers of 2
    • For disks (secondary memory), use powers of 10

2.3. Memory Hierarchy

  • Registers: Small memory, in CPU

    The memory hierarchy

    The memory hierarchy” Copyright (C) 2020 Dive into Systems, LLC under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; from Dive into Systems

    • Each register stores a word
    • Small, expensive, fast (< 1 ns access)
  • RAM (main/primary memory): larger memory, on mainboard
    • Think of array of registers
    • Address input determines what register to access
      • Byte-addressed in real RAM, word-addressed in Hack
      • Read/write accesses possible in random order, at equal speed
    • Still fast (100 ns access time)
  • CPU caches: Hierarchy of memory devices
    • Copy of recently used data between RAM and CPU
    • Level 1, L1: closest, smallest, fastest (1 ns access)
    • Level 2, L2: farther away, larger, slower (4 ns access)
  • Secondary memory: Flash/solid-state disks (16 μs), traditional/hard disks (several ms)
    • Much larger and slower, persistent, cheap

(Source for numbers)

3. Hack Memory

3.1. Memory Chips

  • Sequence of chips of increasing sizes
    • Built-in DFF and Bit
      • Single bit
    • 16-bit Register for one word
    • RAM8, RAM64, RAM512, RAM4K, RAM16K

      • RAM chips of increasing sizes (8 words, 64 words, …)
        • With inputs in, address, load; output out
        • If load is 1, store in at address; otherwise, keep state
        • Output current contents at address as out
      • RAM16K: \(2^{14} = 16384\) words

3.2. Hack ROM

  • Nand to Tetris with built-in chip ROM32K

    • Input address[15]
    • Output out[16]
    • (\(2^{15} = 32768\) words)
  • Output current contents at address as out
    • Only reading, contents written upon fabrication
    • (Later: ROM initialized with instructions when program is loaded)

3.3. Hack PC

  • Recall: Program Counter (PC) holds address of next machine instruction to execute

    • Inputs
      • in[16],
      • Control bits: reset, load, inc
    • Output out[16]
  • Output current register contents as out
    • Logic

      if reset then store 0
         elif load then store in
      	 elif inc then increment stored value
      	   else keep state
      

4. Conclusions

4.1. Summary

  • Memory organized in hierarchy of levels
    • Considerable differences regarding size, speed, cost
    • From registers over caches to RAM and secondary storage
      • Registers located inside CPU, including the program counter
  • RAM can be understood as array of registers
    • RAM is byte-addressed in real hardware, word-addressed in Hack

4.2. Self-Study

  • Play with RAM16K and PC in Hardware Simulator

    • (Use built-in chips)
    • Note
      • Area for RAM contents
      • For RAM16K, address enumerates 16-bit words, neither bits nor bytes
  • How large is RAM16K in bits, bytes, words, KiB?

Bibliography

Nisan, Noam, and Shimon Schocken. 2005. The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles. The MIT Press. https://www.nand2tetris.org/.

License Information

Source files are available on GitLab (check out embedded submodules) under free licenses. Icons of custom controls are by @fontawesome, released under CC BY 4.0.

Except where otherwise noted, the work “Hack Memory”, © 2024 Jens Lechtenbörger, is published under the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0.